Chapter 818 Another Conversation 2
Daneel reappeared in the cave where so many emotional things had recently happened, and the first thing he saw was that the old man, whom he still found it hard to believe was Emperor Fenoras, was enveloped in a shining white cocoon in which he appeared to be sleeping peacefully.
Ignoring him, though, Daneel crushed a trinket that was in the shape of golden lightning. Even though his master didn't really know what it was, he seemed to be a big fan of putting up appearances, because that was the one he had given in case he needed to contact him urgently.
He had reiterated that it should only be used in urgent situations, as there would only be so many times that his master would be able to drag himself away from his duties in the Church, whatever they were, to contact him after finding a safe place and a safe time which was not being monitored actively by the Church which was apparently quite paranoid about communication from the Mainland to anywhere beyond.
Daneel started pacing around after doing so, because he had also been told that it might take some time to establish a connection. During his pacing, he kept thinking of his line of thought, after also marveling just how quickly it had proceeded in his mind.
Even though he went back and checked each and every step, it all seemed logical, so all that remained was to see what his master would say.
Soon, in the same spot where his master had appeared before, a figure slowly appeared, and weirdly enough… That figure was dressed in shining white armor while carrying a long sword on which was etched the image of a saint preaching to the masses who had gathered in front of him.
Daneel's eyes were riveted to the sword on which that image was engraved so masterfully that each and every detail could be seen even though it was just a projection that he was viewing, and seeing this, his master cleared his throat, which led Daneel to blurt out the question that he had contacted the man to ask.
"Does the Church have the habit of putting backup plans in place whenever it is about to take control of a continent?"
Master Jonah squinted his eyes as he heard the question, and following that, he raised a finger without saying anything. It almost looked like he was somewhere where he couldn't talk, and as Daneel started to observe more things about the man, he noticed that there was blood spattered on his armor.
Was his master… Taking part in a war, or something?
That was really weird, but he knew that he couldn't ask. His master thought for a few moments, and after that, he mouthed the words 'five minutes'.
Following that, the image cut off, and Daneel had to impatiently pace around once more.
Thankfully, the man was on time. After exactly 5 minutes had passed, he reappeared and said, "You should have seen the look on my commander's face when I told him that I had a really bad case of indigestion. I guess excuses like these are classic no matter where you are. Well… Now that you mention it, yes, I did see that the Church does have this pattern of putting in place backup plans in the continent that it has decided to conquer. Well, usually, these plans are not very sophisticated, but I saw some records of discussions somewhere which had advocated that this should not continue to be the case. Sadly, I cannot see whether anything changed in relation to the specific campaign of our continent, as those files are sealed from me. All I can access is stuff regarding the past, and I can only answer you with information relating to those. And when I think about them, and everything that has happened in our continent, I have to say that even though they had some plans which they concealed, such as the one where they tried to incite rebellions in various places by saying that they which would give 'salvation', there was nothing else to hide."
Daneel had zoned out during the second part of his master's answer, because all he had needed was the first.
He had been hoping that it might not be the case, and that he might not have to embark on another mission, this time relating to the continent, right after he had finished one. He wished that he had time to rest and just take it easy for a few days, but what could he do? It really did feel as if the invasion was coming, which was the reason why so many things were getting piled up on him one by one.
Thankfully, this was not the first it was happening, and he had the capability of segregating them and then listing them in terms of priority so that he could tackle each. Of course, right now, the top of the priority list was still to find out just who was in the Overseer's place, but if what he was expecting was true… What he had just been told by Ashahell would definitely take a close second.
Master Jonah saw that his disciple was phasing out, but he didn't say anything, knowing that this must be something very important if he had chosen to break the trinket and call him.
At the same time, he, too, started to go through everything, and this wasn't the first time he was doing it. Ever since he had gone to the Mainland, he had been using each and every moment of time that he had to himself to go over everything he had done to try to see whether he had missed something.
As for Daneel, he had currently given a task to the system.
The Dwarve's Rum. There was one thing about this certain incident that placed it apart from all the others, and it was… That he had been on the scene when it happened, instead of arriving afterward like the others.
Soon, the system gave him an answer, following which he hastily told his master, "I believe that the Church might have placed some or the other backup plan in the continent during the time when they destroyed the Dwarve's Rum. Do you remember that incident? In hindsight, I think that it was a pretty over-the-top thing to do, even though the objective was to declare to the world that there was an organization which kept its promises of salvation and revenge. There were other options- much safer ones to do the same thing, but they had still chosen this one, and really, the most telling thing is that at that time, the individuals who were responsible for what happened later did something in the time leading up to it. I never thought back to it, but now that I do, I saw that they were unaccounted for for quite a long time."
Daneel was reliving those memories, and he clearly remembered that after those men from the Church had released him, they had gone missing. Initially, he had thought that they might have gone to free the others, but now, when he thought about it and recalled the powers that he had seen them hold, he realised that that activity would not have taken such a long time. Instead, they had done something else in that period, and this was exactly what had been hinted to him by Ashahell. As for all that talk about fate… That man had clearly only been hoping that Daneel would find some way to shed some light on that investigation which was not present in the public records, because it was obvious that there was something about it which only he knew that he had found out after joining the Church but which he could not talk about because of the oath.
What happened in that time? What was it that Ashahell had deemed important enough to warn him about now, and not any time before?
He thought about these questions, and about everything his master had told him so far, too. He was so deep in thought that he even ignored the question from his master which asked just how he knew what he had just said, and after a second, he directly decided on the direction they should take.
"Master, go check the records of the Church. You said that he can check the past, so this should qualify as the past, right? I suspect that they kept sending over stuff in batches, so look for the time period of the batch closest to the one when this incident happened. Along with that, in that general time frame, look for any dealings that the Church might have had. Look for anything that might have been used to set up a back up plan here. Even a lion like the Church would to wait and hide to pounce on easy prey like us. Please get back to me as soon as possible."
Daneel said all this before he stopped himself, as he realised that he had done so in a commanding tone that he was used to taking with his subordinates.
Yet, his master only chuckled and said, "Aye, aye, My King. It'll take a little bit of time, though. Until then, focus on your power. I see that you haven't increased even a bit since the last time I saw you. Train, boy! No matter how much power you get, don't be complacent, because there are things and people here who will change your very image of the world. Anyway, I'll go before my commander comes by himself to check on me. I'll contact you as soon as I find something, and we can talk here again."
Daneel nodded, and the figure of his master disappeared.
He let out a sigh of relief, because he knew that he had done everything he could regarding this matter. It would all depend on his master's investigation, and until then, he could only put it in the back of his mind and hope that it was something that he had time to tackle after finding out just what it was.
With that, Daneel traveled back to his chambers.
Settling in his chair, he began to reminisce about the past, starting from the events that he had just relived in that bar/slave fighting ring that had gone up in flames.
As he went through everything he had done so far, Daneel started to see a pattern that hadn't been visible before.
Why…was that every threat that had caught him off guard arrived from places that he though hid nothing, but had actually been concealing a lot?
Of course, this was a common aspect relating to threats in general, but why should it be so in his case, who had the system at hand to achieve anything he wished?
This thought gave rise to a bold plan, but Daneel was stumped as to just how he could accomplish it.
However, at the same moment that he got this question in his mind, he recalled a certain something that he had worked very, very hard on, but then abandoned when he found pursuits that had seemed to be more worth his time.
Almost in a daze, Daneel traveled to a certain cupboard in his chambers before casting a secret spell that was only known to the King.
The cupboard opened to reveal a passage, and walking down it, Daneel arrived at a place which held a lot of memories.
In the centre was a formation which would allow anyone to absorb several Ether blocks together to train if they wished, and in one corner were a few objects.
One of them was a vial of dark blood, and the other was a glass bowl that Daneel picked up and carried back to his chambers.
He placed it on a table, and as he looked at the creature that lay within which looked back at him almost reproachingly, like a lover who had been forgotten, he smiled before removing the lid.
A low buzzing was heard in the room, following which Daneel said, "Hello, old friend."
His smile broadening, he began to shoot off a list of instructions to the system, all while the buzzing, which almost sounded happy, started to rise in volume bit by bit, as if to signify the awakening of something that had been sleeping for a long, long time.